Wounded Guinea junta leader unable to speak

FILE- In this file photo taken Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, Guinea military leader Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, left salutes next to his aide Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite during independence day celebrations in Conakry, Guinea. The government had earlier said that Camara was shot Thursday by Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, who commands the presidential guard. A renegade faction of Guinea's presidential guard opened fire Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, on the African country's leader, while Moussa Dadis Camara was in Conakry, a government spokesman said, amid rumors of deep divisions within the army, just 11 months after Camara sized Presidential power in a military-led coup. It was not immediately clear if Camara was wounded. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
— AP

FILE- In this file photo taken Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, Guinea military leader Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, left salutes next to his aide Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite during independence day celebrations in Conakry, Guinea. The government had earlier said that Camara was shot Thursday by Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, who commands the presidential guard. A renegade faction of Guinea's presidential guard opened fire Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, on the African country's leader, while Moussa Dadis Camara was in Conakry, a government spokesman said, amid rumors of deep divisions within the army, just 11 months after Camara sized Presidential power in a military-led coup. It was not immediately clear if Camara was wounded. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
/ AP

Camara himself came to power in a coup last December, hours after longtime dictator Lansana Conte died. Coup leaders promised to organize elections and hand over power to civilians within one year. But Camara quickly reversed course. In September, the presidential guard opened fire on unarmed demonstrators who had gathered to demand that Camara step aside, killing at least 157.

The junta has also laid waste to the country's economy, already one of the poorest in Africa even though it has half the world's reserves of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum.